We’re in the midst of the Time’s Up movement and more opportunities for women to get behind the camera than ever. Greta Gerwig received a Best Director nomination, Patty Jenkins and Ava DuVernay are doing well at the box office. And Sundance this year featured more female directors than years past. Do you think there is a new wave of female directors poised to take over Hollywood, and how do you feel being part of that wave?

I really hope so. I feel like it’s really exciting being part of a time when there’s attention being drawn to the discrepancy between how many women and men directors there are out there. That people are really making sure to be inclusive and open-minded, and realizing that there’s a lot of women who have amazing stories to tell, just like there are a lot of men who have amazing stories to tell. It’s exciting to be a part of a time where as I’m developing as a filmmaker, and I’m really passionate about the stories I want to tell, instead of being sidelined or having extra obstacles that I’m actually being lifted up and being supported. And my hope is that it’s happening for a lot of women out there.

People like Greta and the work that she’s done, and Ava like you mentioned — you look at the early pioneers like the Kathryn Bigelows of the world, the Catherine Hardwicks, they didn’t necessarily have the same support system and they were still pushing through and finding a way. It’s exciting because I feel like we’re going to start to see really different films. We’re going to start seeing films with different perspectives, and different voices, and different ideas. It was so fun to watch Lady Bird and feel like I was finally seeing a coming-of-age story about a girl, and I thought, Oh my god, I totally relate to this! Man, men get this all the time! But it’s so rare that you get a coming-of-age story for a woman. I felt the same way watching Wonder Woman, I felt really emotional because it never occurred to me as a little girl that I never had a female superhero to look up to. I thought, oh man I can’t imagine if I were 10 years old and having a role model as this. It’s so important to have a balance of both, and it’s exciting to see that the whole industry seems to be opening their eyes to that and really embracing that idea of finding that balance.

Now that OUAT is ending and Sun Dogs is coming out, what are your next plans?

I just want to tell great stories. I’m actively looking for different projects now, I’m writing a project that I’m not sure if it will be the very next thing I’ll direct, but it’s a female-driven project for sure. And I’m kind of in the mix with a couple of really big films that I would love to be a part of, and I do believe in the storytelling. So there’s a lot of things that are in the works. I’m not sure exactly what the very next thing as a director is going to be, but I just want to tell great stories and put great characters on screen. And I feel really lucky that I’m pursuing this in a moment when there really is support for female filmmakers.

So do you want to stay with feature filmmaking or do you want to try your hand at television as well since you’ve been in TV for so long?

Yeah, I think there’s so much great television out there now, and there’s a lot of things I would love to be a part of. I think it’s a tricky world to break into — every show has their favorite directors, networks have their go-to directors. So it’s a tricky business, but there are definitely shows out there that my style would really fit well with. My hope is that as my team and I continue pursuing things, that I’ll be able to have a nice balance of directing features but also directing episodes of things for shows that I really like.